Category: Links

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Google Music for Mac (Desktop Application)

I’ve been using this OS X desktop app for Google Music for a few weeks now and absolutely love it.[1] One of the big weaknesses of Google Music (as made available by Google) is the absolute reliance on the web browser for desktop playback. In my case, I tend to have 4–5 windows, each with 10–40 tabs, on most work days.

In that mess of windows and tabs, hunting for the lone tab controlling my music is a royal pain in the ass. To the point where I’d rather use iTunes.

If Google doesn’t flat out hire the developers of the (unofficial) desktop app then I pray that Google at least leaves the developers/API sufficiently alone so that they can keep providing this very awesome application for us unwashed masses. Otherwise I’m going to have to spend a lot more time in iTunes (again).

  1. Note that if you haven’t played with your security settings, and are running a contemporary version of OS X, by default you won’t be able to install or run the application. To run the application open ‘Preference’ >> ‘Security’. In the ‘General’ tab click the unlock botton (lower left corner) and enter your administrative credentials. Then, on the same tab, select ‘Mac App Store and identified developers’; you should subsequently be able to authorize the Google Music application. You may have to repeat this process each time you update the application.  ↩
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EU votes in favor of universal mobile charger

550 votes to 12 says that chargers need to be standardized.

Awesome news for consumers in Europe who have to deal with the multitude of manufacturers that use proprietary adaptors for no clear purpose. Note: I exclude Apple from the ‘no clear purpose’ category, as lightening adaptors are wickedly more awesome to use than microUSB. This is a fact I’m reminded of every time I plug in my Android phone and wife plugs in her iPhone. Especially when doing so in dimly lit situations (i.e. almost every night in the dark).

On that note, USB Type-C connectors (which, like lightening connectors, will fit into ports regardless their orientation) cannot come soon enough!

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CSI and Malaysia 370

politicalprof:

See, on TV and in the movies (Enemy of the State, anyone), the government always has whatever technology they need at exactly the right moment they need it to solve a problem. Even more, they have unlimited budgets to pursue every case.

So of course people think Malaysia 370 was under total observation all the time. It’s the only story that “makes sense” given what they all “know.”

The ‘CSI effect’ also causes huge problems at jury trials these days, with jurors often unable to believe that a CSI-style analysis of evidence isn’t possible or hasn’t been done. Equally pernicious, CSI-based evidence is often held in higher regard, now, that previously on the basis that it must be accurate. Because, you know, unless you’re dealing with the master-villian of the series the CSI analyses are likely to have successfully drawn conclusions.

Yay TV and technology?

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Queen’s Park backs slowly away from transit-dedicated tax hikes

Toronto desperately needs serious leadership on the transit file, and soon: the condo boom is going to bring even more cars on the streets, and that’s going to aggravate already horrible congestion. If Toronto wants to state that it’s a world city then it needs to have the services you’d expect of such a city. And decent public transit is high on the ‘expected services’ list.

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Hidden experts have big ideas for Toronto public transit | Toronto Star

Change parking hours on main streets to reflect changing lifestyles.

Lobo, 50, has been driving a streetcar for 25 years and still loves it. “I never want to do anything else but go back and forth and be my best every day, 10 hours a day,” he said proudly.

He’s seen a lot of changes — not only in the number of passengers, but in the behaviour of passengers, too. People used to have the time to chat, but these days are more focused on their lives and their iPhones, he said.

Lifestyles have changed, too. Workers used to leave the office at 4:30, but these days are more likely to leave at 6 or 7 p.m. So, he asked: Why is parking still allowed after 6 p.m. at some spots on King Street?

“You’ve gone from two lanes to one lane of traffic,” he said. “You go on King St. at 6:30 and the traffic doesn’t move.”

Lobo suggested allowing parking on main streets after 8 p.m. only. He insisted we won’t have to go as far as banning cars on King St. during rush hour; this simple change would make a big difference.

They make other suggestions, as well, but as someone who often has to catch the King streetcar this suggestion resonated most strongly with me. It’s absolutely infuriating being stuck in gridlock along King, though I guess it does force me to get out and just walk to get home faster than on the streetcar.

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In sudden announcement, US to give up control of DNS root zone

Signs point to fallout from NSA spying that lead to “multi-stakeholder” model.

This is incredibly huge news. However, given the incredible influence of the Government Advisor Council and relative denigration of the Non-Commercial Users Constituency the shift to multistakeholder governance is going to be fraught with sweet words to distract people from the real politik that has largely consumed Internet governance.

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Links Quotations Writing

2014.3.14

At its core, respecting the user means that, when designing or deploying an information system, the individual’s privacy rights and interests are accommodated right from the outset. User-centricity means putting the interests, needs, and expectations of people first, not those of the organization or its staff. This is key to delivering the next generation of retail experience because empowering people to play active roles in the management of their personal data helps to mitigate abuses and misuses. To this end, Aislelabs provides an opt out site that allows individuals to choose not to have their retail traffic data included in any anonymous analytics.

Quotation from “Building Privacy into Mobile Location Analytics (MLS) Through Privacy by Design” (.pdf)

It’s incredible that any company – let alone a Canadian Privacy Commissioner – would claim that an opt-out mechanism for hidden and secretive tracking technologies (i.e. monitoring your mobile devices as you walk through the world so retailers can better sell you things) constitutes “putting the interests, needs, and expectations of people first, not those of the organization or its staff.” For such an assertion to be valid the ‘people’ should be given the opportunity to opt-in, not out, of a surveillance system that few will know about and fewer will understand. There are vast bodies of academic and industry literatures which show opt-out mechanisms generally do not work; they’re not effectively centralized and they add considerable levels of friction that hinder consumers’ abilities to express their actual interests. And that’s just fine for many retailers and analytics companies because they’re concerned with turning people into walking piggy banks, not with thinking of individuals as deserving any semblance of a reasonable expectation of privacy.

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Provincial Liberals Policy Launder for Federal Conservatives?

David Eby, formerly with the British Columbia Civil Liberties Association and now a MLA with the NDP, has written a brief piece about forthcoming BC provincial legislation. The Missing Persons Act would let provincial authorities:

issue emergency orders to telephone companies and internet service providers to get access to your browsing history, text messages, e-mail, voice mail, banking records, you name it. If the companies or individuals don’t consent to the access, police can go to court without notice to you to get your records ordered to be handed over. Any record you can think of is covered by the new law.

However, there would be no notice to the individual(s) affected that such a request had been made, regardless of whether it was appropriate.

This kind of concern over finding missing people before they’re formally missing is something that the federal government of Canada has previously used to justify its lawful access legislation. Access to subscriber data (though less expansively than envisioned under the BC legislation) was presented as useful in missing persons’ cases, to return stolen property, and more. To date, the federal government has failed to push through its lawful access legislation, though the recent version (C-13) is scheduled for second reading in the coming weeks.

Of note, the BC Liberal party has a substantial number of past-lieutenants from the Prime Minister’s Office that have passed through. Also, the Chief Constable of Vancouver has been amongst the most fervent advocates for the federal lawful access legislation. As such, I have to wonder how much the proposed BC Act is an attempt to address genuine provincial issues and how much it is meant to quietly start introducing or laundering a flavour of the federal lawful access legislation. I also have to wonder if, after this legislation is passed, the Chief Constable of Vancouver will back off of his federal advocacy: was he trying to solve a particular provincial issue by way of lobbying for changes to federal laws?

It’s quite sad, though, that the meagre consensus that was achieved in the federal lawful access fights – that there would be some reporting system, however sad – was excised by the BC Liberals. It’s hard to claim transparency as a political party when you actively undermine attempts to inject it into new (to say nothing of previously past) legislation.

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Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt Awards Citizen Lab Grant

The Citizen Lab at the Munk School of Global Affairs, University of Toronto is one of ten non-profits to receive the New Digital Age Grants.

Some terrific news! Awesome to see Eric Schmidt support the work that we’re doing at the Citizen Lab

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Internet firms play coy on how they share info with police, government

Via the Ottawa Citizen:

Internet companies have hung up on a call by privacy advocates to reveal the extent to which they share subscriber information with police, security services and government.